EQUALLY GUILTY

WHILE Gauteng High Court, Pretoria Judge Bert Bam, yesterday found Louisa and Kobus Koekemoer guilty of the murder of Poppie van der Merwe, 3, he was so outraged by the failure of anyone in Orania acting against the clear child abuse, that he remarked it can be argued that they were accessories.

After they were convicted on the doctrine of common purpose, Louisa received words of encouragement in the dock from her own mother, who told her she still believed in her.

The judge said it did not matter who had dealt the final blow which caused Poppie’s death; both were equally guilty.

Soon afterwards, a shattered Helena Bothma said she was unhappy with the verdict and insisted her daughter Louisa was not a child killer. “All we can do now is pray for a way forward,” she said.

Kobus meanwhile showed no emotion as he too, was convicted of Poppie’s murder. He cut a lone figure as there was no one to console him.

They were also convicted of child abuse in relation to Poppie’s then fiveyear-old brother, whose body was also riddled with bruises.

Poppie died on October 25 last year from blunt force trauma to the head. By the time Kobus ran with her in his arms into the Brits Hospital, she had already been dead for some time.

The pair turned on each other during the trial, blaming the other for the fatal blow to the head.

Kobus’ version was that Louisa had, in a fit of rage, flung the child out of the bedroom door that morning and she had hit a wall.

Louisa told the court it was that her husband had hit the child’s head against the kitchen cupboard the previous night, as he had done before. He then dealt the child’s lifeless body a final kick the next day.

But Judge Bam made it clear: it did not matter who did what, the fact remained that either one witnessed the other injuring the child and did nothing to prevent the other from hurting her.

“Both were present when the final blow was inflicted, and each of the two knew what was going on.”

Apart from this, Poppie had been severely abused over months. He said the nature of the injuries inflicted over this time on the child and the fact that each accused knew exactly what the other was doing, left the court in no doubt that they knew she could possibly die in the end.

There was no doubt that Poppie had suffered tremendously over a long period, bruises were noted on her body by the authorities in Orania in the Northern Cape, where the family lived until shortly before her death, when they had moved to Brits.

They fled as things became too much for them in Orania as authorities kept an eye on them.

But the judge said it was clear that the authorities – from the dominee in Orania – the doctor and nurse who examined Poppie, social services and up to her teachers, failed both her and her brother.

They saw the multiple injuries on the children over months, yet they did nothing. The one reported it to the other in the hope that they would do something. Ironically the police only became involved when the doctor who stood with Poppies’ lifeless body in his arm in the Brits hospital, notified them.

By that time Poppie had bruises stretching from her head to toes. Her once blond curls were cropped against her head and she was emaciated.

One of the incidents overlooked by them, was when Poppie had suffered a broken leg. Her mother only took her to the doctor two days later. By that time the child was reeled in pain. Louisa’s excuse for not giving the child pain medication was that she did not have money to buy any. She blamed tripping over a puppy to falling down stairs for the incident. All the doctor did was note the injury down.

Louisa cried bitterly in court during her evidence, especially as she was at a loss for words as to why she did not protect her children against her husband, whom she had described as brutal.

The judge yesterday remarked that he was not for one minute swayed by her tears.

He said in terms of the law, adults had a legal obligation to protect children.

Sentencing proceedings will commence on February 28.